Collapsible furniture leg



Feb. 14, 1950 Q LEDEL COLLAPSIBLE FURNITURE LEG Filed Dec. l, 1945 IMI.Il

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Patented Feb. 14 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COLLAPSIBLE FURNITURELEG Carl Ledel, Los Angeles, Califi, assignor of one'- third to PeterRice and one-third to Sam Schuster, both ofLos Angeles, Calif.

Application December 1, 1945, Serial No. 632,239

3 Claims. (Cl. S11-99) This invention relates to collapsible or foldable4 furniture legs, such as collapsible table legs and like deviceswherein any arm or pivotally mounted member may be adjusted to anyposition about its axis of swinging movement or held in such .Y adjustedposition.

An object of the invention is to provide an improved construction whichwill enable a table Y leg or like pivotally mounted member to be turnedabout its axis of rotation into either of a plurality of positions andreadily locked therein by 1a. relatively simple and sturdy constructionwhich Vwill facilitate unlocking ofv the leg or member to permit of` itsturning.

Another object ofthe invention is to provide a construction of the abovedescribed type wherein there is a leg or member pivotally mounted by apivot bolt or the equivalent which 1 extends through a stationaryquadrant and to providea keeper that is interposed between thev leg ormember and the quadrant that urged to engage the quadrant but which maybe is normally disengaged therefrom to unlock the leg or member byforcing it into a recess accommodating it that is disposed in the leg ormember.

, With thel foregoing and other objects in view,

1' whichy will be made manifest in the following detailed descriptionand specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference is had tothe accompanying drawings for an illustrative embodiment of theinvention, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the underside of a cardtable and illustrating the construction embodying the present. inventionas having been applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a partial view in vertical section through a portion of thecard table illustrated in taken substantially 2. Referring to theaccompanying drawings fFg. 3 is avertical section wherein similarreference characters designate similar parts throughout, the inventionhas been illustrated as having been applied to a card table although itwill be readily understood that it may be employed on any other articleof furniture where it is desirable to collapse or fold a leg. The cardtable illustrated consists of side rails IU suitably connected togetherat their ends and supporting a table top II. Legs I2 support the tablewhere the rails III, which are angularly arranged with respect to eachother, are joined together. The legs are pivotally connected to theirrespective rails such as by bolts I3 the heads of which indicated at I4are disposed inwardly vand unev nuts of which indicated at l5 may be l25 is merely depressed to disengage the locking 24 against the face ofthe quadrant, frictionally top whenihe 1eg is in its upright position.This quadrant to the adjacent rail. A lug 22 may be lbearing against theface oi the quadrant wherein pivoted on the bolt I3 and swung into lineposition the keeper snaps tion the top of the leg indicated at 21 is soposirecessed in the outer sides of the rails, and covered over by acovering or plug not shown.

Against the inner face of the leg there is positioned a metal quadrantI6 having an arcuate edge I1 inwhich there are formed rectangularnotches I8 and I9 90 apart. At one end of this 'quadrant there isprovided a laterally bent ear 20 adapted to receive screws 2I to attachthe bent laterally from the top edge of the quadrant and bear againstthe under surface of the table top I I. A keeper 23 is provided theupper portion of which is recessed in the face of the leg between theleg and the quadrant. The bolt or pivot pin I3 extends through thekeeper. The lower portion of the keeper is provided with a locking block24 that is receivable in either of the notches I8 or I9. The keeperpossesses inherent resiliency and is thus normally biased to exercise aportion the locking block 24 is urged outwardly into a notch. The bottomof the keeper is bent laterally to provide a handle 25 by which it maybe depressed into the dotted line position shown in Fig. 3. The leg I2is recessed as indicated at 26 to accommodate this depressing movementof the keeper.

When the leg is in its upright position the locking block 2liy of thekeeper fits the lower notch I9 and locks the leg against collapse. Whenit is desired to fold or collapse the leg the handle I9'. The leg maythen be the dotted line position indicated on Figs. 1 and 2. During thisswinging movement if the handle 25 is released the keeper merely urgesthe locking block block from the notch resisting the folding movement ofthe leg to a slight extent. When the leg reaches the dotted the lockingblock 24 into the notch I8 to lock the leg in collapsed position. Tothereafter extend the leg the reverse of the operations above describedis caused to take place. In the preferred form of constructioned as toabut the undersurface of the table topmay be trimmed such as at 28 toenable collapse.

From the above-described construction it will be appreciated that theimproved collapsible leg is orf relatively simple yet highly durabledesign'. The keeper and the quadrant may be easily con structed andassembled together with the legs and are easily mounted on the frame ofthe table. When it is desired to collapse or extend the leg this may beeasily accomplished by merely depressing the handle and when the legreaches either of its two extreme positions it is automatically lockedtherein by the locking block 24 being snapped into the correspondingperipheral notch.

While the invention has. been described in conjunction with acollapsible table leg it will be readily understood that it is equallyapplicable to any other type of device wherein a leg or arm is pivotallymounted with respect to an adjacent structure to which the quadrant maybe attached and relatively to which the leg or arm is adapted to pvot.

Various changes may be made in the details of construction withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A collapsible leg construction including two rails angularlyarranged, a leg, a single quadrant for the leg construction comprising asubstantially flat plate having an arcuate edge, pivot means extendingthrough one of the rails and the leg and the quadrant to hold the partstogether preventing axial movement thereof, the

positioned between the quadrant and the leg and through which pivotmeans extends, the keeper being disposed longitudinally of the leg andbeing biased to engage the quadrant, means on the leg for carrying thekeeper with the leg when the leg is pivoted, the leg being recessedadjacent the edge of the quadrant to accommodate the keeper when thekeeper is depressed, the keeper having a locking portion to nt in thenotches whereby the keeper may optionally engage the quadrant to lockthe leg in collapsed or erect position.

2. A collapsible leg construction comprising two rails angularlyarranged, a leg, asingle quadrant for the leg construction comprising asubstantially .flat plate having an arcuate edge, pivot means extendingthrough one of the rails and the leg and the quadrant to hold the abovemeni tioned parts together preventing axial movement of any of theparts, the pivot means positioning one side of the leg directly againstsaid one rail and the opposite side of the leg directly against thequadrant, means for rfastening the quadrant to the other rail, thearcuate edge of theV quadrant having its center of curvaturesubstantially at the pivotal axis of the leg, the quadrant having atleast two notches along its arcuate edge spaced approximately 90 fromone another, a strip-like keeper for theV quadrant disposedlongitudinally of the leg and having the pivot means extendingtherethrough, the leg having a recess in the side Wall thereof on whichthe quadrant is positioned located intermediate the edges of said sidewall, the keeper fitting in the recess, the portions of said side Wallof the leg bounding the edges olf the keeper serving to carry the keeperwith the leg when the leg is pivoted, the keeper being biased to engagethe quadrant, the leg being further recessed adjacent the edge of thequadrant to accommodate the keeper when the keeper is depressed, thekeeper having a locking portion to nt in the notches whereby the keepermay optionally engage the quadrant to lock the leg in collapsed or erectposition.

3. A collapsible leg construction comprising two rails angularlyarranged, a leg, a single quadrant for the leg construction comprising asubstantially at plate having an arcuate edge, a pivot pin extendingthrough one of the rails and the leg and the quadrant, means on thepivot pin for holding the above-mentioned parts together preventingaxial movement of any of the parts, the leg being sandwiched 1betweenthe quadrant and said one rail, means for fastening the quadrant to theother rail, the arcuate edge of the quadrant having its center ofcurvature substantially at the pivotal axis off the leg, the quadranthaving at least two notches spaced approximately from one another alongits arcuate edge, a strip-like keeper for the quadrant disposedlongitudinally of the leg, means preventing longitudinal movement of thekeeper relative to the leg, the leg having a recess in the side wallthereof on which the quadrant is positioned located intermediate theedges of the side wall, the keeper fitting in the recess, the portionsof said side wall of the leg bounding the edges of the keeper serving tocarry the eeper with the leg when the leg is pivot-ed, said keeper beingbiased to engage the quadrant, the leg being further recessed adjacentthe edge of the quadrant to accommodate the keeper when the keeper isdepressed whereby, when the keeper is in one olf the notches the leg isheld in one position whereupon the keeper may be depressed to releasethe leg and the leg swung approximately 9GD where the keeper will engagethe other notch to lock the keeper in a second position. CARL LEDEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STA'ESl PATENTS Number Name Date 772,293 Reese Oct. 11, 19041,652,267 Beiger Dec. 13, 1927 1,882,915 Rickson Oct. 18, 1932 1,885,384Snow Nov. 1, 1932 2,047,389 Sinclair July 14, 1936 2,215,093 BoardmanSept. 17, 19.40 2,271,332 Ellington Jan. 27, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS NumberCountry Date 442,555 Great Britain Jan. 11,. 1935

